Putnam,
ISRAEL, military officer; born in Salem (the part now
Danvers), Massachusetts,
January 7, 1718; he settled in Pomfret,
Connecticut, in 1739,
where he acquired a good estate; raised a company, and served in the
French and Indian War with so much efficiency that in 1757 he was
promoted to the rank of major.

While Abercrombie
was resting securely in his entrenchments at Lake George after his
repulse at Ticonderoga, two or three of his convoys had been cut off
by French scouting-parties, and he sent out Majors Rogers and Putnam
to intercept them. Apprised of this movement, Montcalm sent Molang,
an active partisan, to waylay the English detachment. While marching
through the forest (August, 1758), in three divisions, within a mile
of Fort Anne, the left, led by Putnam, fell into an ambuscade of
Indians, who attacked the English furiously, uttering horrid yells.
Putnam and his men fought bravely. His pistol at length missed fire
with the muzzle at the breast of a powerful Indian, who, with a loud
war-whoop, sprang forward and captured the brave leader. Binding
Putnam to a tree (where his garments were riddled by bullets), the
chief fought on. The Indians were defeated, when his captor unbound
Putnam and took him deeper into the forest to torture him. He was
stripped naked and bound to a sapling with green withes. Dry wood
was piled high around him and lighted, while the Indians chanted the
death-song. The flames were kindling fiercely, when a sudden
thunder-shower burst over the forest and nearly extinguished them.
But they were renewed with greater intensity, and Putnam lost all
hope, when a French officer dashed through the crowd of yelling
natives, scattered the burning limbs, and cut the cords that bound
the victim. It was Molang, the leader of the French and Indians, who
had heard of the dreadful proceedings. Putnam was delivered to
Montcalm at Ticonderoga, treated kindly, and sent a prisoner to
Montreal. He was afterwards exchanged for a prisoner captured by
Bradstreet at Fort Frontenac, and was lieutenant-colonel at the
capture of Montreal in 1760, and at the capture of Havana in 1762.
He was a colonel in Bradstreet's Western expedition in 1764. After
the war he settled on a farm in Brooklyn township, Connecticut,
where he also kept a tavern.

Rescuing Putnam from the Indians

General Putnam in the Revolutionary War

On the morning after the
affairs at
Lexington and Concord (April 20, 1775) Putnam was in his field,
with tow blouse and leather apron, assisting hired men in building a
stone wall on his farm. A horseman at full speed acquainted him with
the stirring news. He instantly set out to arouse the militia of the
nearest town,
and
was chosen their leader when they were gathered. In his rough guise
he set out for Cambridge, and reached it at sunrise, having ridden
the same horse 100 miles in eighteen hours. He was appointed a
provincial major-general; was active in the
battle of Bunker Hill;
and was appointed one of the first major-generals of the
Continental army. From
that time his services were given to his country without cessation
in the Hudson Highlands and in western Connecticut. Paralysis of one
side of his body in 1779 affected his physical condition, but did
not impair his mind, and he lived in retirement until his death, May
19, 1790. The sign on Putnam's tavern bore a full-length portrait of
General Wolfe. In the following letter, written at the close of the
Revolutionary War, he alludes to his having been an innkeeper:

"BROOKLYN, Feb. 18,
1782.

"GENTLEMEN, Being an Enemy to Idleness,
Dissipation, and Intemperance, I would object against any measure
that may be conducive thereto; and as the multiplying of
public-houses where the public good does not require it has a direct
tendency to ruin the morals of the youth, and promote idleness and
intemperance among all ranks of people, especially as the grand
object of those candidates for license is money, and where that is
the case, men are not apt to be overtender of people's morals or
purses. The authority of this town, I think, have run into a great
error in approbating an additional number of public houses,
especially in this parish. They have approbated two houses in the
centre, where there never was custom (I mean traveling custom)
enough for one. The other custom (or domestic), I have been
informed, has of late years increased, and the licensing of another
house, I fear, would increase it more. As I kept a public house here
myself a number of years before the war, I had an opportunity of
knowing, and certainly do know, that the traveling custom is too
trifling for a man to lay himself out so as to keep such a house as
travelers have a right to expect; therefore I hope your honors will
consult the good of this parish, so as only to license one of the
two houses. I shall not undertake to say which ought to be licensed
your honors will act according to your best information.

"I am, with esteem, your honors' humble servant,
ISRAEL PUTNAM.

"To the Honorable County Court, to be held at
Windham on the 19th inst."

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